Moose Spotlight: An Artist’s Road to Silversmithing

Sandi Mason is the jewelry artist behind @solitudeinsilver on Instagram. This Granbury, Texas-based artist has been silversmithing for two years now.

@solitudeinsilver on Instagram

As an artist, Sandi has been making jewelry for a couple of years already as she always felt the need to create. She shared that she loved collecting turquoise from makers as well as crystal pieces with her daughter. Her daughter, @tjmsilver, was the first one to express how she wanted to learn silversmithing. At first, Sandi thought it was crazy, but then as she started looking into the idea, she decided to try it as well! They both started the journey to silversmithing together.

Sandi had a lot of people telling her silversmithing was too hard, too complicated, required too many tools and equipment - and not to do it! She met a friend on Instagram who told her the opposite and convinced her to at least give it a shot! Eventually, she signed herself and her daughter up for a starter course on how to use and work the torch.

From there, Sandi and her daughter have worked and grown in this journey to silversmithing along with the help and support of her mentor, @artamazejewelry, and other artists who she considers as friends.

This is the beauty of surrounding yourself with supportive people!

Most of the time, the end-result of jewelry-making is being able to produce beautiful pieces. However, there are also grueling parts of it. For Sandi, the most challenging part is by being self-taught, when she has an idea, she needs to try to figure out how to make it happen. She added that there are still so many techniques she doesn’t know yet and sometimes she wants to make a piece or do something she’s not sure how to do. Sandi tells us she tries to stick with what she knows on many of her customs so she can do her best work and use pieces she’s making to keep or to put up for sale to try out new ideas and hope they go well.

“I don’t have a specific piece that was my biggest challenge as much as just learning to make large cuffs with large stones using my small smith little torch. That’s been my biggest achievement so far and one of my favorite things to make,” Sandi shared.

We noticed Sandi incorporating turquoise pieces beautifully in her work. Curious, we asked why she loves working with it. She told us she thinks turquoise became her favorite stone to work with due to its calming and protective qualities. She also has fascination and appreciation for the different colors and patterns with turquoise stones; she likes how it’s always a surprise and you just never know what you are going to find in each piece of turquoise.

Take a look at some of her amazingly-designed pieces! 

by @solitudeinsilver on Instagram

For Sandi, her number one tip for her fellow creators would be not to get discouraged by how many other makers are out there or to feel like it’s a competition. “Try to see it as being a part of a very big and special tribe and find the ones within the group who are supportive and willing to share info with and also who you feel they want to show support to as well,” Sandi adds.

Check out her Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/solitudeinsilver/

Explore her Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Solitudeinsilver

What do you like about working with Turquoise Moose?

“I met Li early on and we immediately formed a friendship... She was offering beautiful and unique stones I had never seen and was so wonderful to work with .. Turquoise Moose will always be one of my go-to stone vendors as we have developed a great professional relationship based on our love and appreciation of beautiful turquoise!”

- Sandi Mason